End of the Line
by Purple Shamrock 17
Summary: Complete. Oneshot. Gordie's thoughts during the discovery of Ray Brower and the unexpected climax. First Stand By Me fic!


**Author's Note: Hello all! Well, Stand By Me has been one of my favorite movies since I first saw it two years ago. I can really identify with Gordie as far as writing and I've always had a soft spot for him and the fact that Wil Wheaton gives such an excellent performance of him in the movie.**

**I know the story may not seem very original since I'm writing the climax through Gordie's perspective but I hope you enjoy it and please read and review! I had fun writing it!**

**Rating is for language obviously and I own nothing.**

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End of the Line

We stared in shocked awe at the body of Ray Brower. After almost two days of hiking through the woods, dodging trains and (in my case) fainting from those damn leeches, we had found Ray Brower.

Somehow, the moment wasn't as glorious as I thought it would be.

After all, the kid wasn't sick. The kid wasn't sleeping.

The kid was dead.

"Come on, guys," said Chris softly breaking the silence. "Let's find some branches. We'll build him a stretcher."

The forever loyal Teddy and Verne turned away and began searching. Chris began to turn away too but paused and looked back at me.

I was sitting on a fallen tree, staring at Ray and letting it all sink in.

I wondered if getting hit by a train was almost like getting it with a car. They were both powerful machines and it seemed likely. I wondered what the cops must've thought when they found Denny all banged up and bruised and…dead. Did they stare in silence like we had for Ray? Did they think about how that kid didn't deserve to die and how his kid brother looked up to him and would be invisible without him?

The fuck they didn't. They just did their damn job and reported the thing and didn't even stop to really think about the dead kid like I was doing now for Ray Brower.

"What's wrong with Gordie?" I heard Verne ask innocently. The question echoed in my head like my ears were full of water. It was muffled 'cause my thoughts were far, far away.

I didn't bother to listen for Chris's reply but I could sense that he was now sitting next to me so I asked in a voice loud enough for only him to hear.

"Why did he have to die, Chris? Why did Denny have to die?"

"I don't know." Was the typical lame ass answer that I was so damn sick of hearing.

"It should've been me," I whispered.

"Don't say that," said Chris.

"It should've been me," I repeated with more certainly

"Don't say that," said Chris firmly.

"I'm no good," I continued in a whisper. "My dad said it, I'm no good."

"No, he just doesn't know you."

"I'm no good." I repeated as if Chris hadn't spoken. What he did know? He didn't see how my dad ignored every day! He barely fuckin' looked me in the eye! He didn't give a damn about me anymore and he never did even when Denny was alive.

"My dad hates me," I realized. A realization that I had known all along but had never wanted to admit. "Oh, god!" I cried. "My dad hates me!" I felt the tears begin to form and with a hitching cough they began to fall as this full realization struck me. It seemed that I had only been invisible to him but now to know that he hated me was something I felt I couldn't bear to comprehend, especially now with Denny gone.

And so like the big pussy that I was. I began to cry.

The tears streamed down my face and my breath came out in short gasps as I knew that I was no better in my father's eyes than the kid lying in the dirt at my feet. My dream had been true. It should've been me lying in a box, slowly turning into food for all the damn worms and shit like that. My father hated me and I didn't matter to him.

Then I felt Chris's arm move around my shoulder in a (dare I say it?) brotherly kind of way. I laid my head on his shoulder and continued to weep for my fucked up existence.

"You're gonna be a great writer someday, Gordie," I heard Chris say from somewhere above me. "You might even write about us guys if you get hard up on material."

I coughed in reply and wiped at my eyes, trying to laugh at the thought of writing about my best friends as a last resort. "Have--have to be pretty…hard up on ma—material, then," I choked. Chris patted my shoulder as I wiped away the remaining tears.

We sat in a silence for a few minutes until…

"Well what the fuck do we have here?"

Our heads whipped up to see Ace standing before us. He was followed by Eyeball Chambers who exclaimed, "Sonofabitch! It's my little brother!"

Ace's gang had gone searching for Brower's body too.

Chris leapt to his feet at the sight of them and Teddy and Verne rushed to his side to fight with him for the prize. I remained on the log, staring at Brower's body and knowing that Ace's gang was _not _going to take him.

I didn't bother to listen to the argument that followed. I didn't really care anymore. The kid was dead and who were we or Ace's gang to fight over him? Did it even fucking matter who ended up with the body anyway?

Apparently to Ace it did.

I looked up when I heard the leaves crunch and saw Teddy scampering away while Ace advanced toward Chris, holding a switchblade in his fist.

I knew I had to something to help my friend who had helped me through my pussy crying and fainting over a damn leech. And I had to do it fast. There was no way Chris was going to become a dead body _because of_ a fucking dead body.

That was when I saw the bedroll.

Chris had set his bedroll beside the log and before I could even think about what the hell I was doing, I reached inside and pulled out the .45.

My hands shook as I gripped the hard cold metal. I tried to keep them steady as I raised the gun above my head…and pulled the trigger.

BANG!

The sound of the blast ripped through the woods, it seemed louder than when I had fired it before. The echo of it startled everyone, but I barely flinched as I lowered the weapon and pointed it straight at Ace.

"You're not taking him," I said in a low voice. "Nobody's taking him."

"C'mon, kid, gimme the gun before you take your foot off," said Ace.

"You're not taking him," I repeated, stepping forward and keeping my eyes locked on Ace.

"What, are you gonna kill us all, Lechance?" Ace asked.

"No, Ace," I answered in a soft, dangerous voice that I didn't even know I had. "Just you." And I cocked the gun as I spoke. This was the end of the line, I knew. There was nowhere else to go. Whether I really wanted to kill Ace or not, I didn't know but I knew that neither our gang nor his gang was going to claim Ray Brower's body. His journey had ended with his death at the end of the train tracks and so would ours.

"C'mon, Lechance, gimme the gun," Ace coaxed. "You must have some of your brother's good sense."

I did have my brother's good sense which is why I replied, "Suck my fat one, you cheap dime store hood."

Ace stared at me and I stared at him, willing him to give up. It was over. It had ended with a draw.

I kept the gun pointed at Ace as he threatened to make Chris and me pay for what we had done and even as he and his gang turned to leave. I only lowered it when they were back up the hill.

That afternoon as we trekked our way back home. I thought about everything that had happened and realized that Ray Brower and I were really not that much different. Sure the kid was lying at the bottom of a hill all covered in shit but we had both followed the train tracks to find something and at the end of the line we got where we were going. Maybe he didn't want to die but at least he got somewhere and I got somewhere too…right back where I started: in Castle Rock with my three best friends by my side and a whole world waiting to read my stories.

So maybe the end of the line was really the beginning.

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**Author's Note: Well that's it! I hope you liked it and that the ending wasn't too corny! Please read and review!**


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